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■i-7
' ■'•;..
: --
SmokeSignals
Harvest Howl with
Wolf Pup "Conan"
at Wildlife
Science Center
pg-5
Saint Paul
Foundation plans
major funding of
Indian programs
pg-l
New Leech Lake
casino proposed
at Deer River
Pg-l
Canadian
government wants
FBI to release
Aquash murder
information
Pg. 4
IAC provides
notice of meeting
for first time in
recent history
pg-3
State DNR, Mille
Lacs Band discuss
legal fees, Band
wants 4,000 acres
of land
Pg-3
New casino proposed at Deer River
Leech Lake Band negotiating to build facility
BY DEVLYN BROOKS
Bemidji Pioneer
The Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe
is negotiating to build a small-scale
casino on 40 acres of tribally owned
land adjacent to Deer River, Tribal
Chairman Eli Hunt said Sept. 17.
Hunt said the band is discussing
the project with the Deer River City
Council and has several questions to
answer, but if the project goes as
planned, they could break ground
within 90-100 days.
"There's a very good chance this
project will go through," Hunt said.
"On a scale of one to LO, I'd give it a
nine."
The proposed facility would be a
one-story, 8,000-square-foot
building on tribal trust land at the
intersection of U.S. Highway 2 and
Proposed casino
\jie)
^US 2)
/ v"s^L
A
Deer River
N
Deer River Casino Site.
Credit: Bemidji Pioneer graphic
state Highway 46, which is adjacent
to the city of Deer River. The
building would hold slot machines,
blackjack tables, a small gift shop, a
snack bar and a 10-seat bar. It would
hold 200-300 people.
Hunt said construction is
estimated to cost about $ 1.5 million,
with another $1.5 million'needed for
start-up, operating and equipment
needs.
One ofthe casino's main purposes would be to provide jobs for
not only tribal members but others in
the area, Hunt said. The casino
should be hiring about 115 people,
who would make salaries starting at
$7 an hour. The casino's manager
would make $30,000-$40,000.
The casino would employ two
shifts of workers and be open about
16 hours a day.
The Deer River City Council and
Leech Lake representatives most
recently discussed the project at a
special meeting held Monday in Deer
River.
Both Hunt and Leech Lake Public
Relations Director Judy Hanks said
before the Leech Lake Tribal Council
approves the new casino, there are
DEER RIVER to pg. 8
Examining the iceman
One ofthe most unusual archaeological finds in North America — a frozen man
dubbed Kwaday Dan Sinchi — has generated not only great scientific interest
but an ethical debate over disposing ofthe remains.
ByERICSORENSEN
Seattle Times
VICTORIA,B.C.
As hats go, it's not the most
stylish. It's more like an old straw
gardening hat you might find
flattened in garage clutter.
But considering itcame off a man
who died in a remote glacier hundreds — if not thousands — of
years ago, the hat has an elegance
that transcends the ages.
"It's beautifully made," said
Diane Strand, a heritage-resource
officer for the Champagne and
Aishihik First Nations, an Indian
tribe in northern British Columbia.
"Not just finely made. It's gorgeous."
The hat, a collection of tools and
the remains ofthe adult male called
Kwaday Dan Sinchi, the southern
Tutchone word for "long-ago person
found," stand as one of the most
unusual archaeological finds in
North America. Hunters stumbled
upon the remains in a glacier in
northwestern British Columbia, not
A woven hat was among
.artifacts found with an
' ancient body discovered in
August in a Canadian
glacier. Officials of the
Indian tribe native to the
region and of the province of
British Colombia have
established a procedure to
learn from the discovery
and then return the remains
to the man's likely
descendants.
Photo credit: Sarah Gaunt/
Knight Bidder Tribune
far from the Yukon and Alaska
borders, on Aug. 14.
Provincial and tribal representatives have announced a framework in
which diey hope to learn the most
ICEMAN to pg. 8
Seminoles await OK to begin production
on single-engine plane
ByDAVEBRYAN
Associated Press Writer
FORT PIERCE, Fla.- Chief James
Billie wants to chart a new course for
the Seminole Indian tribe that
doesn't include alligator wrestling,
bingo or airboat rides in the Everglades.
Billie wants the Seminoles to
become the first American Indian
tribe to make its own airplane. He's
awaiting final approval from the
federal government to begin producing a single-engine, two-seat trainer
plane called the Micco SP-20.
"I wanted to get... the general
public in a different mind-set that
Seminoles are not just living out in
the swamp," Billie said. "We also do
high-tech things."
Billie, a licensed pilot and avid
flier, has wanted to produce his own
plane for about 10 years and help
diversify the Seminoles' business
empire that's heavily reliant on
tourists and bingo players.
"This is his baby," said DeWitt
Beckett, president of Micco Aircraft
Co., the tribe's airplane production
company near Fort Pierce. "He's
anxious to see it certified."
The Seminoles operate a
multimillion-dollar business operation from their headquarters in
Hollywood, Fla. Most ofthe tribe's
money comes from its lucrative
bingo halls in Tampa, Hollywood,
Immokalee, and Brighton, about 50
miles west of Fort Pierce; a tourist
park on Big Cypress Indian Reservation called Billie Swamp Safari; and
recreational vehicle parks. The tribe
also is pushing to offer casino
gambling.
While getting into the airplane
business may be a significant step
for the tribe, it's too soon to say how
much it would bring to the bottom
line, Billie said.
Five years ago Billie bought the
manufacturing rights to the Meyers
145, a post-WWII forerunner of the
SP-20. After doing initial work on the
design and tooling ofthe plane in
Wichita, Kansas, the tribe moved the
company to Florida in 1996.
The tribe would produce the
Micco, which means 'leader' or
'superior one' in the Seminoles'
language, at its plant at St. Lucie
County International Airport, about
SEMINOLE to pg. 6
Only American Indian on PGA Tour wants
to take game to new level
ByPETEHERRERA
AP Sports Writer
ALBUQUERQUE- Notah Begay
III is a mixture of Stanford suave and
down-home humility. He's an
American Indian with enough game
to win on the PGA Tour and the
moxie to turn down an invitation to
play a round with President Clinton.
A tour rookie who spent part of
his youth on a reservation near
Albuquerque, Begay last month won
the $2.75 million Reno-Tahoe Open.
That brought a call from the White
House, but Begay had to decline.
"I couldn't fit it into my schedule," says Begay, who has become a
media favorite and an icon for
American Indian youth.
But Begay did take last week off
from the tour to return to Albuquerque to promote next month's New
Mexico Classic, a Nike Tour event
that is the state's only pro golf
event.
It's a sense of obligation that
frequently brings him back to his
roots.
"I've always held the people of
New Mexico dear to my heart,"
Begay says. "It's a very special place
and one that I always love to return
to. If I can help by making an
appearance or talking to people
about the Nike Tour event coming
up, then by all means I'm going to do
all I can."
Begay, who turned 27 on
Tuesday, is a graduate from the Nike
Tour, where he had four second-
place finishes last season and gained
instant notoriety by shooting a 59 at
the Nike Old Dominion Open.
Begay's only win last season was
the New Mexico Open, as obscure a
pro event as there is - except to
Begay.
"Yeah, some people might say,
'That's not that great a win,' but for
me, it was because that's what I set
out to do," Begay says. "That's why
I took a week off from the Nike Tour
to play in it. It was important for me
to have my name on that trophy
because I'm from New Mexico. I
played high school golf here."
Begay also played soccer and
basketball at the Albuquerque
Academy, a private school that won
46 of 52 games and back-to-back
state championships in 1989 and
1990 with Begay as one ofthe
starting guards.
Back then, his 3-point shooting
touch was almost as good as his
putting stroke.
"He was ferocious," Acadamy
basketball coach Mike Brown says.
"He was such a competitor. There
was one game in our 25-1 season
where... Notah hit six 3-pointers in a
row. He'd have games like that. He'd
get hot and just couldn't miss."
Begay says his years at the
Academy helped shape his career:
"It prepared me so well to attack the
high level of competition. I never
back down."
Begay went on to Stanford,
where he joined Tiger Woods and
Casey Martin in leading the Cardinal
to a national title.
Described by Martin as "the
antithesis ofthe traditional, conservative, upper-middle-class, white
golfer," Begay wears earrings, putts
right and left-handed - depending on
which way the putt breaks - and has
a swing that won't make any golf
instructional video.
Begay describes his swing as
"unorthodox, but natural. I would
say homemade."
"It's my own interpretation of
how I should swing. My fundamentals are good - balance, grip, set-up.
The way it looks is not great. I think
it has a lot to do with my body
composition. I've got big shoulders
and short arms, so it looks funny. It's
never going to look graceful, but it's
powerful," he says.
PGA TOUR to pg. 8
Voice of the People
web page: www.press-on.net
1
FREE
Native
American
tluuS^m News
We Support Equal Opportunity For All People
Founded in 1988 Volume 11 Issue 50
September 24,1999
A weekly publication. Copyright, Native American Press, 1999
Seth Erickson, 16, of Hartford, S.D., holds his hand out and prays after offering
tobbaco and sage to honor the pipestone quarry below at the Pipestone National
Monument in Pipestone, Minn. AP Photo/The Argus Leader, Val Hoeppner
St. Paul Foundation plans major funding
effort for Indian programs
BY GARY BLAIR
StaffWriter
The Saint Paul Foundation has
launched a "Strategic Plan for
Grantmaking" that promises to
increase the amount of funding made
available to Twin City non-profit
Indian organizations that are trying
to create social change.
According to documents
distributed at a Sept. 22 information
meeting put on by the The Saint Paul
Foundation for Indian leaders in St.
Paul and Minneapolis, The Saint
Paul Foundation will grant a total of
about $28 million next year. Approximately $3.5 million of that will be
available for non-profit Indian
organizations to apply for in a
competitive process.
In 1985-89 the foundation gave
$78,000 in five grants to Indian
community programs. In 1995-99 that
amount grew to $365,456. Fourteen
grants were funded during that
period.
The meeting was held at the
Black Bear Crossing coffee house in
St. Paul. The discussion sounded
much like the Indian community
meetings 25 years ago, when plans
were being made to address the same
social problems that are still being
complained about today. Also
present were some ofthe same faces
from years ago.
Noticeably present was Clyde
Bellecourt, the same individual who
four years ago received $ 10,000 from
the Prairie Island Sioux Community
to help finance a youth canoe trip
from the headwaters ofthe Mississippi River to St. Paul. Those who
assisted Bellecourt say he spent the
money at casinos along the way,
leaving the Indian kids to fend for
themselves for food and supplies.
They say Bellecourt only snowed
on the trip when he knew the news
media would be present.
Bellecourt complained during
the meeting to John Couchman, Vice
president of Foundation's grant
program, that Indian organizations
should not be expected to match
grant money with their own funds
from casinos, as was being suggested. "They act like we all have a
casino in our back pocket,"
Bellecourt ironically remarked.
During June 1996, November
1996 and February 1997, a community advisory committee made-up of
20 Indian members came up with 20
recommendations to the Foundation
of what they felt needed to be
addressed. Here is some of what
FOUNDATION to pg. 6
Indian tribes fear handling sacred remains
By RIK ESPINOSA
Tulsa World
TULSA, Okla. - The return of
human remains and buried objects to
American Indian tribes and nations
is a mixed blessing, several tribal
officials say.
Indians have long maintained
their right to rebury their ancestors
and burial objects that have sat in
museums and in university collections for, in some cases, longer than
a century.
The tribes were granted the
ability to reclaim remains and objects
in the 1990 Native American Graves
Protection and Repatriation Act.
After many years of inventorying, the return of such items has
begun in earnest in the last year.
However, some items in museum
collections have placed tribal
members in a quandary because they
are so sacred some fear just handling
the objects will cause spiritual
disturbances.
"We have what we call sacred
bundles that were, you might say,
big, strong medicine. And those
things, we believe, had a lot of power
at one time. No one knows how to
use those sacred bundles anymore,"
said Francis Morris, repatriation
cpordinator for the Pawnee Nation.
People who knew how to handle
the sacred bundles died more than 50
years ago.
The sacred bundles, which"
Morris likens in religious reverence
to the Christian ark ofthe covenant,
are held in the highest esteem.
"We don't know whether they
ought to be buried or be kept. No
one knows anything about them
anymore," he said.
"We can't use them and they
may cause bad luck. We don't know
what we are going to do with those
things."
Morris said the Pawnee Nation is
seeking the return from the
Smithsonian Museum in Washington
of nine skulls of Pawnee scouts who
worked for the U.S. Army. The
scouts were beheaded in Kansas as
they were awaiting discharge from
their service, after the U.S. surgeon
general put out a bounty of $50 a
head for Indian skulls so he could
study them.
Along with the sacred bundles
and thousands of other cultural
items, there are still about 2,300
Pawnee remains in a museum in
Nebraska and at the University of
Nebraska, Morris said.
Like the Pawnee, members of
hundreds of American Indian tribes
and nations are struggling with what
to do with the remains and cultural
items.
Charla Reeves, Native American
Graves Protection and Repatriation
Act representative for the Miami-
based Peoria Tribe, said the nation
has repatriated 120 individuals and
more than 1,000 funerary objects.
Some ofthe sacred burial objects
and bones are more than 1,000 years
old and were claimed in August after
being housed at the University of
Arkansas.
"This is just one of many
(repatriations) that we are working
on. I don't believe this is it at all,"
Ms. Reeves said.
The Peoria lived in Illinois before
REMAINS to pg. 8

Content and images in this collection may be reproduced and used freely without written permission only for educational purposes. Any other use requires the express written consent of Bemidji State University and the Associated Press. All uses require an

■i-7
' ■'•;..
: --
SmokeSignals
Harvest Howl with
Wolf Pup "Conan"
at Wildlife
Science Center
pg-5
Saint Paul
Foundation plans
major funding of
Indian programs
pg-l
New Leech Lake
casino proposed
at Deer River
Pg-l
Canadian
government wants
FBI to release
Aquash murder
information
Pg. 4
IAC provides
notice of meeting
for first time in
recent history
pg-3
State DNR, Mille
Lacs Band discuss
legal fees, Band
wants 4,000 acres
of land
Pg-3
New casino proposed at Deer River
Leech Lake Band negotiating to build facility
BY DEVLYN BROOKS
Bemidji Pioneer
The Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe
is negotiating to build a small-scale
casino on 40 acres of tribally owned
land adjacent to Deer River, Tribal
Chairman Eli Hunt said Sept. 17.
Hunt said the band is discussing
the project with the Deer River City
Council and has several questions to
answer, but if the project goes as
planned, they could break ground
within 90-100 days.
"There's a very good chance this
project will go through," Hunt said.
"On a scale of one to LO, I'd give it a
nine."
The proposed facility would be a
one-story, 8,000-square-foot
building on tribal trust land at the
intersection of U.S. Highway 2 and
Proposed casino
\jie)
^US 2)
/ v"s^L
A
Deer River
N
Deer River Casino Site.
Credit: Bemidji Pioneer graphic
state Highway 46, which is adjacent
to the city of Deer River. The
building would hold slot machines,
blackjack tables, a small gift shop, a
snack bar and a 10-seat bar. It would
hold 200-300 people.
Hunt said construction is
estimated to cost about $ 1.5 million,
with another $1.5 million'needed for
start-up, operating and equipment
needs.
One ofthe casino's main purposes would be to provide jobs for
not only tribal members but others in
the area, Hunt said. The casino
should be hiring about 115 people,
who would make salaries starting at
$7 an hour. The casino's manager
would make $30,000-$40,000.
The casino would employ two
shifts of workers and be open about
16 hours a day.
The Deer River City Council and
Leech Lake representatives most
recently discussed the project at a
special meeting held Monday in Deer
River.
Both Hunt and Leech Lake Public
Relations Director Judy Hanks said
before the Leech Lake Tribal Council
approves the new casino, there are
DEER RIVER to pg. 8
Examining the iceman
One ofthe most unusual archaeological finds in North America — a frozen man
dubbed Kwaday Dan Sinchi — has generated not only great scientific interest
but an ethical debate over disposing ofthe remains.
ByERICSORENSEN
Seattle Times
VICTORIA,B.C.
As hats go, it's not the most
stylish. It's more like an old straw
gardening hat you might find
flattened in garage clutter.
But considering itcame off a man
who died in a remote glacier hundreds — if not thousands — of
years ago, the hat has an elegance
that transcends the ages.
"It's beautifully made," said
Diane Strand, a heritage-resource
officer for the Champagne and
Aishihik First Nations, an Indian
tribe in northern British Columbia.
"Not just finely made. It's gorgeous."
The hat, a collection of tools and
the remains ofthe adult male called
Kwaday Dan Sinchi, the southern
Tutchone word for "long-ago person
found," stand as one of the most
unusual archaeological finds in
North America. Hunters stumbled
upon the remains in a glacier in
northwestern British Columbia, not
A woven hat was among
.artifacts found with an
' ancient body discovered in
August in a Canadian
glacier. Officials of the
Indian tribe native to the
region and of the province of
British Colombia have
established a procedure to
learn from the discovery
and then return the remains
to the man's likely
descendants.
Photo credit: Sarah Gaunt/
Knight Bidder Tribune
far from the Yukon and Alaska
borders, on Aug. 14.
Provincial and tribal representatives have announced a framework in
which diey hope to learn the most
ICEMAN to pg. 8
Seminoles await OK to begin production
on single-engine plane
ByDAVEBRYAN
Associated Press Writer
FORT PIERCE, Fla.- Chief James
Billie wants to chart a new course for
the Seminole Indian tribe that
doesn't include alligator wrestling,
bingo or airboat rides in the Everglades.
Billie wants the Seminoles to
become the first American Indian
tribe to make its own airplane. He's
awaiting final approval from the
federal government to begin producing a single-engine, two-seat trainer
plane called the Micco SP-20.
"I wanted to get... the general
public in a different mind-set that
Seminoles are not just living out in
the swamp," Billie said. "We also do
high-tech things."
Billie, a licensed pilot and avid
flier, has wanted to produce his own
plane for about 10 years and help
diversify the Seminoles' business
empire that's heavily reliant on
tourists and bingo players.
"This is his baby," said DeWitt
Beckett, president of Micco Aircraft
Co., the tribe's airplane production
company near Fort Pierce. "He's
anxious to see it certified."
The Seminoles operate a
multimillion-dollar business operation from their headquarters in
Hollywood, Fla. Most ofthe tribe's
money comes from its lucrative
bingo halls in Tampa, Hollywood,
Immokalee, and Brighton, about 50
miles west of Fort Pierce; a tourist
park on Big Cypress Indian Reservation called Billie Swamp Safari; and
recreational vehicle parks. The tribe
also is pushing to offer casino
gambling.
While getting into the airplane
business may be a significant step
for the tribe, it's too soon to say how
much it would bring to the bottom
line, Billie said.
Five years ago Billie bought the
manufacturing rights to the Meyers
145, a post-WWII forerunner of the
SP-20. After doing initial work on the
design and tooling ofthe plane in
Wichita, Kansas, the tribe moved the
company to Florida in 1996.
The tribe would produce the
Micco, which means 'leader' or
'superior one' in the Seminoles'
language, at its plant at St. Lucie
County International Airport, about
SEMINOLE to pg. 6
Only American Indian on PGA Tour wants
to take game to new level
ByPETEHERRERA
AP Sports Writer
ALBUQUERQUE- Notah Begay
III is a mixture of Stanford suave and
down-home humility. He's an
American Indian with enough game
to win on the PGA Tour and the
moxie to turn down an invitation to
play a round with President Clinton.
A tour rookie who spent part of
his youth on a reservation near
Albuquerque, Begay last month won
the $2.75 million Reno-Tahoe Open.
That brought a call from the White
House, but Begay had to decline.
"I couldn't fit it into my schedule," says Begay, who has become a
media favorite and an icon for
American Indian youth.
But Begay did take last week off
from the tour to return to Albuquerque to promote next month's New
Mexico Classic, a Nike Tour event
that is the state's only pro golf
event.
It's a sense of obligation that
frequently brings him back to his
roots.
"I've always held the people of
New Mexico dear to my heart,"
Begay says. "It's a very special place
and one that I always love to return
to. If I can help by making an
appearance or talking to people
about the Nike Tour event coming
up, then by all means I'm going to do
all I can."
Begay, who turned 27 on
Tuesday, is a graduate from the Nike
Tour, where he had four second-
place finishes last season and gained
instant notoriety by shooting a 59 at
the Nike Old Dominion Open.
Begay's only win last season was
the New Mexico Open, as obscure a
pro event as there is - except to
Begay.
"Yeah, some people might say,
'That's not that great a win,' but for
me, it was because that's what I set
out to do," Begay says. "That's why
I took a week off from the Nike Tour
to play in it. It was important for me
to have my name on that trophy
because I'm from New Mexico. I
played high school golf here."
Begay also played soccer and
basketball at the Albuquerque
Academy, a private school that won
46 of 52 games and back-to-back
state championships in 1989 and
1990 with Begay as one ofthe
starting guards.
Back then, his 3-point shooting
touch was almost as good as his
putting stroke.
"He was ferocious," Acadamy
basketball coach Mike Brown says.
"He was such a competitor. There
was one game in our 25-1 season
where... Notah hit six 3-pointers in a
row. He'd have games like that. He'd
get hot and just couldn't miss."
Begay says his years at the
Academy helped shape his career:
"It prepared me so well to attack the
high level of competition. I never
back down."
Begay went on to Stanford,
where he joined Tiger Woods and
Casey Martin in leading the Cardinal
to a national title.
Described by Martin as "the
antithesis ofthe traditional, conservative, upper-middle-class, white
golfer," Begay wears earrings, putts
right and left-handed - depending on
which way the putt breaks - and has
a swing that won't make any golf
instructional video.
Begay describes his swing as
"unorthodox, but natural. I would
say homemade."
"It's my own interpretation of
how I should swing. My fundamentals are good - balance, grip, set-up.
The way it looks is not great. I think
it has a lot to do with my body
composition. I've got big shoulders
and short arms, so it looks funny. It's
never going to look graceful, but it's
powerful," he says.
PGA TOUR to pg. 8
Voice of the People
web page: www.press-on.net
1
FREE
Native
American
tluuS^m News
We Support Equal Opportunity For All People
Founded in 1988 Volume 11 Issue 50
September 24,1999
A weekly publication. Copyright, Native American Press, 1999
Seth Erickson, 16, of Hartford, S.D., holds his hand out and prays after offering
tobbaco and sage to honor the pipestone quarry below at the Pipestone National
Monument in Pipestone, Minn. AP Photo/The Argus Leader, Val Hoeppner
St. Paul Foundation plans major funding
effort for Indian programs
BY GARY BLAIR
StaffWriter
The Saint Paul Foundation has
launched a "Strategic Plan for
Grantmaking" that promises to
increase the amount of funding made
available to Twin City non-profit
Indian organizations that are trying
to create social change.
According to documents
distributed at a Sept. 22 information
meeting put on by the The Saint Paul
Foundation for Indian leaders in St.
Paul and Minneapolis, The Saint
Paul Foundation will grant a total of
about $28 million next year. Approximately $3.5 million of that will be
available for non-profit Indian
organizations to apply for in a
competitive process.
In 1985-89 the foundation gave
$78,000 in five grants to Indian
community programs. In 1995-99 that
amount grew to $365,456. Fourteen
grants were funded during that
period.
The meeting was held at the
Black Bear Crossing coffee house in
St. Paul. The discussion sounded
much like the Indian community
meetings 25 years ago, when plans
were being made to address the same
social problems that are still being
complained about today. Also
present were some ofthe same faces
from years ago.
Noticeably present was Clyde
Bellecourt, the same individual who
four years ago received $ 10,000 from
the Prairie Island Sioux Community
to help finance a youth canoe trip
from the headwaters ofthe Mississippi River to St. Paul. Those who
assisted Bellecourt say he spent the
money at casinos along the way,
leaving the Indian kids to fend for
themselves for food and supplies.
They say Bellecourt only snowed
on the trip when he knew the news
media would be present.
Bellecourt complained during
the meeting to John Couchman, Vice
president of Foundation's grant
program, that Indian organizations
should not be expected to match
grant money with their own funds
from casinos, as was being suggested. "They act like we all have a
casino in our back pocket,"
Bellecourt ironically remarked.
During June 1996, November
1996 and February 1997, a community advisory committee made-up of
20 Indian members came up with 20
recommendations to the Foundation
of what they felt needed to be
addressed. Here is some of what
FOUNDATION to pg. 6
Indian tribes fear handling sacred remains
By RIK ESPINOSA
Tulsa World
TULSA, Okla. - The return of
human remains and buried objects to
American Indian tribes and nations
is a mixed blessing, several tribal
officials say.
Indians have long maintained
their right to rebury their ancestors
and burial objects that have sat in
museums and in university collections for, in some cases, longer than
a century.
The tribes were granted the
ability to reclaim remains and objects
in the 1990 Native American Graves
Protection and Repatriation Act.
After many years of inventorying, the return of such items has
begun in earnest in the last year.
However, some items in museum
collections have placed tribal
members in a quandary because they
are so sacred some fear just handling
the objects will cause spiritual
disturbances.
"We have what we call sacred
bundles that were, you might say,
big, strong medicine. And those
things, we believe, had a lot of power
at one time. No one knows how to
use those sacred bundles anymore,"
said Francis Morris, repatriation
cpordinator for the Pawnee Nation.
People who knew how to handle
the sacred bundles died more than 50
years ago.
The sacred bundles, which"
Morris likens in religious reverence
to the Christian ark ofthe covenant,
are held in the highest esteem.
"We don't know whether they
ought to be buried or be kept. No
one knows anything about them
anymore," he said.
"We can't use them and they
may cause bad luck. We don't know
what we are going to do with those
things."
Morris said the Pawnee Nation is
seeking the return from the
Smithsonian Museum in Washington
of nine skulls of Pawnee scouts who
worked for the U.S. Army. The
scouts were beheaded in Kansas as
they were awaiting discharge from
their service, after the U.S. surgeon
general put out a bounty of $50 a
head for Indian skulls so he could
study them.
Along with the sacred bundles
and thousands of other cultural
items, there are still about 2,300
Pawnee remains in a museum in
Nebraska and at the University of
Nebraska, Morris said.
Like the Pawnee, members of
hundreds of American Indian tribes
and nations are struggling with what
to do with the remains and cultural
items.
Charla Reeves, Native American
Graves Protection and Repatriation
Act representative for the Miami-
based Peoria Tribe, said the nation
has repatriated 120 individuals and
more than 1,000 funerary objects.
Some ofthe sacred burial objects
and bones are more than 1,000 years
old and were claimed in August after
being housed at the University of
Arkansas.
"This is just one of many
(repatriations) that we are working
on. I don't believe this is it at all,"
Ms. Reeves said.
The Peoria lived in Illinois before
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